KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang wants a meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak before next Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting to present a proposal to tackle the recent floods that has left massive destruction in its wake.
Although floodwaters are going down, the DAP parliamentary leader said his proposal included declaring a state of emergency for the affected states and to hold a special Parliament sitting this month to discuss the floods, and doubling the RM500 million flood relief allocation to RM1 billion.
He also called for both the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) to lay down their political difference and set up a joint action council to deal with the aftermath of the floods.
“If I am right that the Cabinet had not met since December 17, then this is a gross remiss of public duties and responsibilities by the entire Cabinet,” the Gelang Patah MP said in a statement.
The veteran opposition lawmaker acknowledged that it was customary for the Cabinet not to meet on festival days or their eve.
He noted the last two Cabinet meetings may have been held off because they coincided with Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, which fell on Wednesdays.
However, he pressed the prime minister to explain the Cabinet’s unhurried pace in meeting despite the catastrophe that has seen the forced evacuation of nearly a quarter million people from their homes in nine states across the country and the death of at least 21.
National news agency Bernama reported the Malaysian Meteorological Department yesterday as saying that a monsoon surge was expected to start next Wednesday or Thursday, especially in Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.
